If your lives are anything like ours this month, you’ve been running from one errand, to the next event, to the next task without much time to catch your breath!
A couple Sundays ago our little family sang Jesus, Joy of the Highest Heaven in church on Sunday morning. The song is a children’s carol that we sing to our kids as a lullaby, so they know the words well. Cooper refused to sing the first verse, but belted out the words on the second. 
I love this carol because it pictures Jesus as an infant and as a toddler, identifying with us in our helplessness and weakness. As I look at my children, I again realize how child-like I am in the presence of God. I find comfort knowing that it’s okay for me (and them) to be broken, faulty human beings because that’s just the type of people God loves to rescue!
This past Sunday Stephen directed Crossroad’s congregational Christmas program. Back in 2009 Stephen wrote a Christmas narration based on the words of Hark! The Herald Angels Sing for our first church planting Christmas at CBC. We performed that (now updated) narration again this year, and the ensemble once again sang Dave Mincy‘s Wesley’s Carol—Hark! The Herald Angels Sing set to a new and beautiful tune.
Friday, the 11th was GreenLoop’s Christmas party. They invited all employees and their dates to a Phoenix Suns Game–the first NBA game for both Stephen and me.
It was Star Wars night, and the Suns played the Portland Trailblazers.
After eating our fill of hot dogs and nachos, we tried donuts from the Fractured Prune–YUM!! Their hot, freshly made cake donuts were melt-in-your-mouth good. Afterward we took in the Christmas scene in downtown’s CityScape with their temporary outdoor ice skating rink.
Sunday the 13th was the Christmas party for my MOMS club. We hung out in our pajamas while sipping cider and eating Christmas goodies.
Silas was an excellent helper in decorating our Christmas tree this year. 
We have a 7 1/2 foot artificial tree from our friend, Becky. Silas helped me assemble it, spread the branches out, and put the ornaments on. 
He was very particular telling Cooper to make the ornaments “hang” on the branches, not “stand.”
This is the first year I’ve hung some lights outside our home.
I like seeing our Moravian star lit up at night in remembrance of Christ’s natal star.
We’ve been celebrating Advent with our Jesse Tree, but since we’ve been so busy, we’ve usually had to do two ornaments on the nights we can manage to gather as a family. 
The boys and I have also been counting down the days to Christmas with our Advent paper chain. Silas and Cooper have been learning the names of Christ (printed on the paper links) and learning how to use scissors as we remove a link for each day.
Right now, we’re enjoying grandparent time with Stephen’s parents, while we look forward to David and Tammy’s Christmas visit.
Merry Christmas to you!
That video was great to listen to ,I listened to it twice because It was so great.I thought it was cute that Silas had kept his hands in his pockets the entire time. We should be thankful that we have a heavenly father that loves us so much.
Merry Christmas, Moody family! We love you!
Is your Jesse Tree activity something you can buy in a kit, or did you make it up yourself?
Laura, the great thing about the Jesse Tree is that there are so many free resources to choose from for the ornaments, and you can even make your own from scratch. We got a printable set from a friend of a friend here, and then I bought an artificial branch from Hobby Lobby to hang them on. Here is a helpful post by my friend Keren on Advent resources.
Ann Voskamp’s “The Greatest Christmas” is the story of the Jesse Tree with free ornaments to download and color.
I used these free printable ornaments for the children at church. I love that this packet explains a little more of what each ornament symbolizes–helpful for a newbie like me!
Awesome, I’ll check out those resources!!